24 Million Jobs Must Be Found Next Year To Ensure Social Order, Says Official (Video Added)

The central government would need to create 24 million jobs next year to maintain social stability on the mainland, a senior labour official said in Beijing on Tuesday.

But even that number might still fall short of demand as the economy continues to slow and as jobless workers move around the country, according to Yu Faming , director general of the department of employment promotion at the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security.

Mr Yu said that to meet its job creation target the central government was coming up with an ambitious employment stimulus plan to be rolled out early next year. “It is better to keep the workers in factories than let them loose in society.”

Beijing’s biggest concerns were jobless university graduates, migrant workers, retired military personnel and their families, he said. Mr Yu told the 21st Century China Business Herald that nearly 7 million fresh graduates would enter the job market next year, but there would be far fewer vacancies. Even if the educated young men and women were willing to leave the big cities in coastal areas and seek jobs in central and western regions, they might find that the global economic crisis had arrived ahead of them.